Day 124

Grandma met us at McDonald's so that we could have a little fun in the play area. Kaitlyn insisted that she get to climb all the way to the top, which of course meant that Mom had to go with her. However once we got the top, she was less than impressed and wanted back down again. At least, she enjoyed the slide down.

Day 123

Kaitlyn's new favorite play things are the sippy cups out of the cupboards. She likes to open the cabinets and spread them out all of the the kitchen. Then puts on the lids & then takes them off . . . her favorites ones have straws. Needless to say, despite the sweet face, she get very upset when you try to put them away.

Day 122

Take a look at those muscles!

(Also, look closely and you can see Parker is wearing pull-ups instead of a regular diaper. Although he isn't consistent, he's making regular trips to the potty)

Day 121

At Grayson's birthday, Parker got a present too . . . a race car bed. It was time to move Parker out of is crib and into a big boy bed. He was very excited both about the bed and the Mickey Mouse sheet set. Les & I were worried that he might fall out so we piled blankets around the sides of the bed.

However, Parker had no problems at all. He didn't fall out of bed even once and he didn't get scared and come down into our bed either. It seems that we have a big boy on our hands now.

Day 120

Sunday afternoon was Grayson's birthday party and the whole family went over to help celebrate. It's hard to believe that the boys are already three. Kaitlyn was wore her Easter dress and spent the afternoon flashing everyone her matching bloomers.

Day 119

You know the cartoon, Inspector Gadget? The bad guy, Dr Claw? You only ever saw the back of his chair as he was plotting to take over the world. Now imagine that you turned his chair around, what would you see?

Perhaps it might look something like this? She's got her pen & paper and I am sure that she is plotting to take over the world . . .

Day 118

Kaitlyn is such a ham. She will start smiling and saying "cheese" as soon as she sees the camera. On the other hand, Parker has definitely reached the age where he doesn't want his picture taken as much. About half the time I have to distract him with a "hey, what's that?"

Day 117

Parker, hold your sister's hand while I lock up the front door.


Parker, be sure to help her up the stairs.

Parker, next time "help" her up the stair not "drag" her.

Day116

Chef Daddy made raviolis for dinner and we all sat around the dining room table as a family. Kaitlyn, as always, hammed it up for the camera.

Day 115

Some people might call it the "reward system."
But really, it's called bribery.
"Parker if you go pee on the potty, you can have a piece of candy."
So far, bribery is working pretty well. Here are the last vestiges of the piece of chocolate that Parker "earned" for using the potty. It's good to see that he is getting every last bit.

Day 114

Kaitlyn has discovered the joy of purses . . . they come in all shapes and sizes and the best part is that you can put stuff in them! (and then take it out, then put it back in . . . )

Day 113

Since we had a nice sunny Sunday for a change, we decided to go to the Oregon Zoo. Our first trip with our new membership thanks to a Christmas present from Holley, Joe & Bailey. I had a lot of pictures to choose from for today, but I like this one. Because while both of the kids are smiling for the camera, neither of them are actually looking at the camera. There were just too many more interesting things to look at.

Kaitlyn was content to stay in the stroller as we visited all the animals. Parker mostly wanted to walk by himself (he would hold his hands together so that there was not one available to hold Mom's or Dad's). However as we got further past nap time with no nap, Parker started getting a little cranky and wanted to be carried. So we knew when it was time to head home. Both of the kids fell asleep in the car almost immediately and were so tired they hardly woke up as we took them out and put them in their beds.

Day 112

Job had an extra ticket to the Blazer's playoff game and invited Les to go along with him. I couldn't resist snapping this picture of all the boys in their matching Brandon Roy jerseys. Go Blazers!

Day 111

Yeah! Daddy's home from his business trip. Let's wrestle!

Day 110

With Les still out of town, I was in charge of getting both children ready in the morning. Since neither of them wanted to sit and watch cartoons while I got dressed, they decided to keep me company. I set them up at Les' sink with toothbrushes and a cup. And yes, they were a bit wet by the time I was finished, but I was actually able to get ready when my "helpers" were distracted.

Day 109

The Easter Bunny brought Parker one of those paddle-ball toys. Kaitlyn has be very diligently trying to hit the ball with the paddle, with little success. But she keeps trying . . . Seeing that I can't hit the ball most of the time, I am pretty impressed with her skills.

Day 108

Les had to travel to Kentucky this week, so he has been calling every evening to say good night. More and more Parker is understanding what the phone is all about and had quite a lot to tell Daddy about his day.

Day 107

Now that Kaitlyn is mostly trustworthy on the stairs (and also is not interested), we've been taking the baby gate down in the hallway. Which, of course, means that Parker & Kaitlyn having been chasing each other down the hall, through the kitchen and back again. Parker will come up to me and say "Mom, chase me!" and then he'll just start running.

Day 106

Happy Easter! To celebrate Easter, we had breakfast with the Haines family at our house and then headed out to Beaverton for egg hunts & dinner with the McCord clan. Kaitlyn had the cutest dress ever and she loved spinning around and around . . . it made me realize she really needs to wear more dresses. Both the kids had a great time with their egg hunts, it was Kaitlyn's first. It didn't take her long to realize it would be more efficient if she just "hunted" the eggs out of cousin Bailey's basket. And needless to say, they both got way too much candy.

Day 105

Kaitlyn's first pony tail!
With a little hairspray, I was able to get all of her hair back into a pony tail. However by the time we got to dinner, she had pulled it out. Which required a quick fix in the car. I think I am going to have to put an emergency "Hair Kit" in the car, so I always have a brush, some hairspray and a handful of hair ties at the ready.

Day 104

After Kaitlyn went to sleep, Parker got to dye Easter eggs for the first time. Miss Carrie came over and we did about two dozen. He did really well, except he kept putting this favorite one up to his nose (??) and eventually his nose was covered in pink dye. It was very important to Parker that as we were putting the eggs in the carton to dry that all the pink ones had to be together and all the blue ones . . . He likes it when things match.

Side note: It's embarrassing to mention that I was the only one that knocked over one of the dye cups.

Day 103

Guest Photographer: Parker
It was either this photo or the one he took of his foot by accident!

Day 102

So every morning after getting ready, Kaitlyn sits in her highchair and eats her breakfast (or throws it on the floor, whatever). I know you have seen this picture before. But let's look at the details, just for fun. Starting with the hair, she has one of her pig tail pulled out entirely and the other hair band is just barely hanging in there. Then remember how I mentioned that she has to be buckled in or she'll stand up in the chair? Well, little Houdini here has managed to get out of both of the shoulder straps, you can see the one blue strap in her armpit. And I swear, that smile is just saying "Look Ma, see what I can do?"

Day 101

Here we have Chef Parker showing us how to make garlic bread. He really likes to help cook, especially with Dad. I really like the look of concentration on his face, like he needs to get just the right amount of butter.

Day 100

It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's the ceiling. Again. Clearly Kaitlyn has master pointing up. Wait, maybe she's not pointing, but working on her disco moves. I mean, between the Hot Dog Dance and the Move It Move It Dance, she has become quite the dancer. (So You Think You Can Dance 2024 here we come!)

Day 99

Kaitlyn has picked up Parker's fondness for coloring. Unfortunately she not only colors on the coloring books, but also on the floor, her highchair and the furniture. Thankfully she hasn't started in on the walls . . . yet.

Day 98

Les & I took my mom to go see Wicked as her birthday present. It was an absolutely wonderful show and the music was fantastic. As always, seeing a show made me wish that we lived in New York so we could see them on Broadway. Or at least we could go and visit . . . or maybe just afford season tickets to the Best of Broadway in Portland . . . especially because Lion King is coming again . . .

Day 97

It's Friday night and that means hanging out with Miss Carrie. For some strange reason, she wanted to go out to dinner WITH the kids (?!?). So went to Little Cooperstown by the house, where Parker ordered a taco salad (?!?), didn't eat any of it and then proceeded to line his fruit snacks up on the blinds. I am sure it wasn't the most sanitary of options, but it kept him entertained while Carrie and I ate our dinner. They were out of high chairs so Kaitlyn sat on the bench next to me and tried to eat: crayons, napkins, sugar packets & her menu. The the most frightening part is that the kids were being "good." Still, I think it will be a while until Carrie wants to eat out with them again. Maybe when they are 7 & 9?

Day 96

Kaitlyn has discovered the joy of pointing. Usually she is not pointing at anything particular (in this case the ceiling), but when she is pointing at some thing she wants she has the toddler grunt mastered. "Unnn" loosely translates to "I want that." And of course, "UNNN!!" translates into "I WANT THAT NOW!" Oh, the joys of toddler hood . . .

Day 95

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to pick up dinner and Parker decided he would go in and help Dad with the shopping. He was very excited when he found the shopping cart that was his size. He is so cute with the cart and his hands & mouth full of samples.